Environmental Analysis The Y Cube

THE Y-CUBE ANALYSIS
[ Architectural Association School | Studio I ]

LOCATION London, UK
ARCHITECTS Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
YEAR Fall 2015
ADVISOR(S) Simos Yannas
COLLABORATOR(S) Florencia Collo, Muge Inan, Aksor Gurunlian

Keywords | Post-occupancy evaluation, thermal and visual comfort

The aim of this exercise was to evaluate the environmental performance of an existing building in the City of London and confirm whether or not the initial assumptions made by the project architects were correct. The Y-CUBE designed by Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and partners (RSH+P) is a modular affordable housing project that offers 37 single-occupancy units to people experiencing homelessness. Every unit was prefabricated in a factory and craned onto the site.

This research summarizes our findings and suggests design changes to the project architects. For the Y-Cube, improvements revolved around enhancing the daylight inside the units without compromising their thermal performance. While tests show that reducing the size of the balcony/corridor is not very effective, several other options are suggested to improve the indoor conditions of the units depending on their orientation. Enlarging windows, refinishing walls and blinds, and opening the floorplan to let more light inside were efficient options that could be considered to improve the daylight inside the units.